Word Origin & History

moonlight "hold a second job, especially at night," 1957 (implied in moonlighting), from moonlighter (1954), from the notion of working by the light of the moon. Related: Moonlighting. Earlier the word had been used to mean "commit crimes at night" (1882). The noun meaning "light of the moon" is attested from mid-14c. Moonlit (1830) is first attested in Tennyson.

Example Sentences for moonlighting

If the Limerick moonlighters must have been tried in Cork there would have been no moonlighting.

But did you ever hear of a youngster who'd sit behind the door and suck his thumbs while there was moonlighting in the air?

My journey to Galway was undertaken for the purpose of hanging four men who were condemned to death for moonlighting.